“Xakiah,” he started, breaking our trance for a while, “I have to know: Why did you leave us?” Ignoring his question, I came at him from the front; ducking just moments after he flung his right fist, charged with his energy, straight forward. On my way to the ground I pierced Kage no Kokoro deep into his left thigh. Wailing at his pain, I forcefully removed my weapon from its bloody sheath, creating a gash that looked as if I half-finished attempting to slice his leg in two, and leaped up to create another one similar to it up his chest that barely nicked his chin.
Grabbing me by my right arm before I had a chance to escape, he sent his power vehemently through my whole body. Every vain in my body felt as if they contained thousands of razor-sharp, electrified knifes running through them at a non-stop pace. Screaming, I had no time to think of a counter to this or the following move, which involved Xerebus inserting his free hand into my chest to deliver more of that same brand of pain, only amplified to the point to where I felt that pain plunge itself into the marrow of my bones. He finally stopped this maneuver after what seemed like hours and let me fall to the floor like a ragdoll, completely lifeless despite its realism.
“You impudent wretch! And here I was going to offer you a means to return to us, and this is what you do?!” Xerebus spat at me, clutching his wounded leg all the while.
Throbbing from his assault, I presented him my trademark grin and mocked, “Oh…did mommy give you a boo-boo? Come closer…and I’ll make certain that the pain goes away...permanently.” Despite his injuries and the amount of power he used, from what I could determine from his gaze Xerebus was still in top form. Meanwhile, judging from the protest I was obtaining from my nervous system, my body wouldn’t permit me to do any more strenuous movements from this point on. If this fight were to continue along this same path, my demise would surely be imminent. Perhaps some would cave in under the pressure of such hopeless odds, but that certainly wasn’t the case with me. In fact, I found myself driven into homicidal ecstasy from this twisted set of chances and couldn’t stop myself from laughing hysterically at them.
Whether it was from my dark euphoria or the fact that I was still defying him after being pushed near extinction, a flash of surprise penetrated his hard-core surface as he exclaimed, “You’re insane!”
Abruptly stopping my fit of laughter I retorted back, “That may be true, but considering that you’re the one who asked me to join you in the first place…what does that make you? Hmm?” then resumed cackling maniacally once more.
He didn’t give me an answer to this response. Instead, he reintroduced his masamune onto the playing field once more. “Allow me to put you out of your misery.”
~*~
“Archimedes?” There was no response, save for the sounds of his snoring, which came from within his wooden home.
“Archimedes?” The snoring stopped, but no other response came from within.
There was no time to waste. When I called for him again, I made certain to my impatience clearly heard. “Archimedes!” This time, that stubborn, old, feather-brain bothered to communicate back in the same grumpy manner that I was, regretfully, accustomed to.
“What?!”
“I need your assistance. Come out here at once!”
After giving me an exaggerated moan, Archimedes whined, “Out of all the people in Christendom you could ask for assistance, you just have to pick me!”
Even on normal occasions I don’t like having to put up with his overly-obnoxious attitude, but today I was really going to throw the book at him. (Preferably, leather-bound style.) “Out of all the people in Christendom I could ask for help, Archimedes, it just so happens that you’re the only one I can manipulate into submission with a single phrase! Now come on out of there or else!”
“‘Oh-ho! Such confidence so early in the morning.” He stuck his huge, feathery head out of the doorway of his abode to jeer at me. “And just how do you suppose that? Hmm-mmm?”
Without skipping a beat I raised my staff and shouted, “Homo sa—”
“Whoa, now hold on just a darn minute there!” he panicked, cutting me off. Archimedes then half-fell out of his home to comply with my demands and proceeded to take his seat at the roof of his home. “Alright, alright, alright, let’s be reasonable Merlin.” Clearing his throat to sound in better spirits than how he started, he asked, “What do you need?”
Calming myself down a bit in response to his cooperation, I said, “First, let me tell you what’s going on, now pay attention.” Thankfully, no objection came from his beak.
“Do you remember what happened shortly before Xakiah’s last visit a few days ago?”
He shuddered before he said, “That I do.”
“I’ve detected his presence yet again.”
“What-what?! Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place, you bumbling, block-head?!” Archimedes yelled at me, puffing out all of his feathers in response to his contempt. It didn’t take long for you to return to normal, huh Archimedes?
“Because, Archimedes, as usual in the morning you were testing my patience!”
“Merlin—”
“This isn’t up for debate! Now, I don’t know where his signature is coming from so I need your help to find that tome that contains that discreet locater spell.”
“Merlin,” he sighed with annoyance prevalent in his tone, “couldn’t you have just summoned the book yourself?”
“Absolutely, under normal circumstances, but let’s not forget who we’re dealing with. Right now we don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves by using unnecessary magic so we’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way. Now come on; time is of the essence!”
Before he left his perch to assist me I heard him mumble something about a certain transfiguration spell I was about to use on him.
~*~
“Do you have any last words before you die?”
I finally made up my mind on what to do next. It was going to be tricky, considering Xerebus’ ability to obscure his opponent’s attacks to his favor, but if I planned it just right he’d be the one with hell to pay. Maintaining my trademark grin I said, “Yes: prepare for the veil between the seen and unseen to disappear.”
“What? Those are your choice of last words? So be it.” This time he didn’t pause his weapon prior to the plunge, like he did with Etxel. Swift and true, his masamune cut clean through me. When my body had dissolved in the parade of darkness typical of Nobodies on their elimination, Xerebus banished his weapon and made a move to leave. Instead of greeting an empty corridor though, he came across me standing right in front of him as if what he just did was a figment of his imagination.
“Oh my!” I pleasantly exclaimed after looking at the emotion his eyes projected upon seeing me. “If I didn’t know any better, Xerebus, I’d say you just saw a ghost or something.”
Smirking, Xerebus said, “Perhaps. Allow me to fix that.” He brought back his masamune to repeat the deed. I made no effort to stop him and allowed his weapon to finish me off yet again.
